A message notification sounded and Changbin ignored it, snuggling deeper into his blanket. A couple of seconds later, a string of notifications began blaring, causing Changbin to angrily move towards the table beside the bed.
He snatched his phone from the charger and realized that he had 26 unread messages from Felix. The most recent one said, "COME HERE RIGHT NOW I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY SLEEPING IN BED PLEASE COME ITS URGENT THAT'S WHY IM TYPING IN CAPS." Changbin stifled a laugh. Felix always wrote in caps when he was excited, so it wasn't anything new.
Rubbing his eyes, he got off the bed and began getting ready to leave. He realized it was afternoon, but didn't mind waking up so late since he had an expedition the night before, one involving scarcely inhabited buildings. Grabbing a bagel with some jam slapped onto it, and haphazardly sliding some rings onto his fingers, he locked his apartment door and headed towards his car. He quickly sent a message back to Felix, saying that he was coming. He, unfortunately, forgot to read the 25 previous messages. If he did read those, he'd have saved himself from a fairly awkward situation. Well, there's no such thing as an un-awkward first meeting now, is there?
Felix waited for Changbin to reply back to what he said, but all he said was that he was coming and didn't mention anything about what Felix said. Sighing, he began to get up when he heard a ding from the front door. He went to open it, but Chan told him that he'd get it. Felix nodded and went back to sitting on the couch and wondering about the state of his household.
"Hello, who's this?" Chan asked, opening the door slightly.
"Who are you?" Changbin replied, confused.
Chan stared at Changbin for a good 5 seconds before nodding in realization.
"Ohh, you must be the pizza delivery boy. Yeah, I'll bring my wallet to pay right here," Chan said. To say Changbin was confused would be an understatement. Felix wasn't in his house and instead, there was a random guy in his place, and now the random guy called him a pizza delivery boy. What was going on? He opened his mouth to speak but got interrupted by Felix walking over.
"Oh, you're here?? Why didn't you tell me? Chan!" Felix called out. Chan came back, holding his jacket, bag, and another smaller bag in his arms.
"I've searched everywhere and I can't find my wallet? How am I supposed to pay for the pizza?" Chan cried, setting everything on the nearby counter and spreading it out in hopes for his wallet to magically appear.
"I am NOT a pizza delivery boy! Stop calling me that. And Felix, who is this and why does he think that?" Changbin questioned. He walked into the familiar space and his eyes widened as he saw 2 new people walking in. Hyunjin seemed a bit sleepy, and was followed by Seungmin, who was diligently typing something on his phone. Hyunjin turned and saw Changbin standing.
"What's the ruckus? Seungmin and I were talking abou— Oh hey, who are you? Omg, are you the pizza boy? Hey Chan, did you ask for extra garlic sauce as I asked?" Hyunjin exclaimed.
"I don't remember if I ordered it since I'm busy finding my wallet right now!" Chan replied. He pushed his belongings away from him and slumped into a chair, most probably because he didn't find his wallet in any of them. Felix just watched everything unfold, a cheeky grin on his face as he leaned against a wall.
At this point, Changbin had a feeling that none of the people in the house were normal and that this "pizza boy" thing was going to end up being his actual profession by the way these people were referring to him like that. He was also wondering why Felix had even allowed anyone to come in in the first place. He remembered from the first time he met Felix that he would never allow any people in the building. Even Changbin wasn't invited in until a fairly long time. Felix noticed Changbin's dumbfounded expression and decided it was time to introduce everyone.
"Alright Chan and Hyunjin, the person you both are mistaking to be the pizza delivery boy is my friend Changbin. Changbin, the one who's looking for his wallet is Chan and he's a co-worker from the zoo. Hyunjin's the one who asked for garlic sauce and Seungmin—" Felix looked around until he saw Seungmin sitting on the couch, invested in writing something. "Seungmin's the one on the couch. Oh, and Hyunjin and Seungmin are some people who went to visit the zoo yesterday! We met up and hung out and became friends," Felix finished.
Changbin stood there, trying to process the information. "Well Felix, I'm glad that you got to make some new friends," he said, giving a curt nod of acknowledgement to everyone else.
Changbin scratched his head, wondering how Felix managed to trust these people enough to allow them here. But Changbin had a feeling that they were allowed in his home because he had to, not because he trusted them that much. And he was determined to find out why. Felix must've sensed his thinking because he turned to everyone and began to clear his throat. However, Chan was still in the midst of finding his wallet.
"You know what? I'm convinced that I never had a wallet in the first place," Chan said, quite exhausted, as he fell into one of the seats on the couch. Seungmin glanced up from his avid note-taking and took in the sight in front of him.
"Chan, didn't you come to Hyunjin straight from your office to inspect what was going on? Maybe you left your wallet with your stuff in your office room," Seungmin said. Chan looked at Seungmin as though he was a genius.
"If there is ever a job opening, I will make sure to recommend you," Chan said happily.
"Sorry to ruin your plan, but I already have a job and have no interest in working at a zoo. Sorry," Seungmin said, smiling ruefully. Chan didn't seem too bothered and just smiled.
"You'll go places," Chan said simply. He stood up and made his way to Changbin and shook his hand. Seungmin tried to move from his spot on the couch to also shake Changbin's hand, but his attempts proved to be futile, as Hyunjin had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Changbin smiled at the sight.
"Wait Seungmin, what job do you have? I thought you were still in school," Felix asked, tilting his head at him.
"Oh, I still am in school, but I'm working on journalism and currently, I'm working on a miss— a project with . . . some people and that's why I came to the zoo so that I can immerse myself in a different environment and learn more about it," Seungmin explained, staring at Felix inquisitively. At the mention of "journalism" Felix jolted up a bit and locked up eyes with Seungmin, who seemed to have realized something.
As Felix slowly moved away, Seungmin grabbed something from his pocket and held it inches away from Felix. Poor Hyunjin got woken up from Seungmin's abrupt movements and was staring groggily at what was unfolding in front of his eyes.
"So Changbin, I quit working at that cafe and soon began to— HEY what are you doing to Felix?!" Chan exclaimed as he saw Seungmin who was holding a phone in front of Felix's face.
"Take a look at this," Seungmin said and handed it to Chan. On it was an article about disappearances at the zoo.
"What does this have to do with Fel—" Chan said but was interrupted from Changbin who had covered his mouth.
"Put that down, and I'll let go of Chan," Changbin said. Seungmin silently placed his phone.
"Put everything down," Changbin reiterated. Seungmin groaned and placed a recording device down as well. Changbin stiffly let go of Chan, who started coughing from being held.
An unspoken realization came over everyone at that point. There were two sides to the people in the room: Changbin and Felix on the left, and Seungmin, Hyunjin, and Chan on the right. And it was more than just physically being on separate sides. It was also how they viewed each other, and the trust — or lack of trust each side had.
"I have no idea what is going on and why you all are acting so goddamn aggressive, but what I do know is that y'all can talk it out," Hyunjin said, glaring at everyone. Somehow, everyone felt a bit ashamed after hearing that. Perhaps it was because Hyunjin wasn't this serious often and it meant that they went too far.
"So, who wants to speak first?" Hyunjin asked, leaning back into the seat of the couch.
A/N: First written 3/14/22, 5:12 p.m.
YOU ARE READING
Highway to Another Dimension || Skz
ParanormalWhen Chan, an unsuspecting former café worker begins his job at a seemingly normal zoo, everything goes well for some time. Except for a few speed bumps along the way in his daily life, no problems appeared. That is, until a series of people began m...
